Public participation is a key aspect in the planning of Swedish municipalities. It is probably the most important tool of them all in the planning towards a sustainable future within the cities and the municipalities as a whole. Participation from the public can take on several different forms. In this paper I focus to research and discuss in and around the usage of a web-based 3D platform called City Planner. The tool allows the user (the public) to view the municipalities planning in a fairly new (but quickly growing) environment.

By immersion in the situation of the food production today and a historical study of how past development has led us to this point, one goal of this essay is to discuss whether the current way of farming can be applied in a sustainable future. Another objective of the essay is to study the vision Vertical farming as an alternative approach, and to focus on different aspects of this phenomenon in order to provide as comprehensive a picture as possible.The paper, thus, seeks to broaden the views for alternative approaches regarding a well-established method which we often take for granted. The aim is also to initiate a discussion around the need to also take radical ideas in regard if we want to face the future in a sustainable manner. The method is a qualitative literary study where scientific articles and papers have been used to discuss the issues: why has the idea of Vertical farming arisen, what is Vertical farming and how is the Vertical Farm meant to operate? Does Vertical farming have a place in the sustainable city of the future? For a long time us humans lived as one with nature, in a symbiotic relationship in which we gave and took as a functioning part of an ecosystem.

Within media and communications studies, questions of taste have often been associated with the dichotomy of high versus popular culture. The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has also used mass media products in his studies of class determined tastes and dispositions. In this paper the author uses the theoretical framwork of Bourdieu to examine aspects of social class and legitimate taste in the interior design magazine "Sköna Hem", a market leading magazine within it's genre of lifestyle magazines in Sweden. A specific type of feature article, where a real-life home is portrayed, is studied using the critical discourse analysis of Norman Fairclough. The homes portrayed are predominantly affluent and display elements of conspicuous consumtion as mediated through legitimate taste and cultural capital.

The increased interest in a sustainable environment puts pressure on companies in the manufacturing industry. Rexcell Tissue & Airlaid AB (Rexcell) in Skåpafors produces paper to be converted into tabletop and hygiene products. Rexcell is certified according to the environmental management system ISO 14001, gaining competitive advantages by showing that the company works toward a sustainable environment and that they follow current legislation. The activities at the company are classified as hazardous to the environment according to the Environmental code. Every year, the activities are inspected by an independent inspector.

Sweden?s environmental work is to set out from 16 national environmental quality objectives. It aims to work for a sustainable society and to solve our current environmental problems today and not pass them on to future generations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Uppföljning av handlingsprogram för miljömål (a follow up-study of a programme for environmental quality objectives) and to propose new methods to work with the revision of Handlingsprogram ? så genomför vi de regionala miljömålen i Hallands län (a programme to implement the regional environmental quality objectives in the County of Halland), a revision which will start in autumn 2010.

The climate issue is a significant question, and the problem is mainly caused by human activities. Everyone can help to counteract the enhanced Greenhouse effect by reducing the amounts of energy they use and by not consuming more products then they need.Schools are some of societies many consumers and therefore contribute to the Greenhouse effect. The School also has an important task; to teach and disseminate knowledge and information about the climate and the environment. According to the Swedish National Agency for Education, Skolverket, must all schools regularly consider the environment and sustainable development throughout the entire education process. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many schools in Sweden today.One of many tools that can be used to coordinate environmental work and initiatives, and also to make it more efficient, is environmental management systems.

During the past few years an increased attention has been paid to environmental issues in the construction and property sector in Sweden. In order to simplify the work with these issues a Swedish environmental certification system for buildings called Miljöbyggnad has been developed. This thesis aims to investigate the opinion of a selected number of selected property owners of Miljöbyggnad. From that basis recommendations and actions for the future work with the system will be presented.The investigation has been conducted through personal interviews with five property owners. The main issues that the interviews have been based on are their purpose, experiences, perceived complications and future prospects in terms of certification using Miljöbyggnad.The system intends to be cost-effective, simple and to offer a relevant environmental assessment of buildings and the result from the report indicates that this is largely fulfilled.

Pets like dogs and cats have a considerable importance for humans and research demonstrate a variety of positive economic and social effects in society due to our pet companions. The presences of pets are increasing on a global scale with correlation to economic development in low- and middle income countries. For example dogs have doubled in India over a five year period. The feed industry for dogs and cats is also the fastest growing sector in the food industry and certain pets have a significant animal protein intake which, depending on the choice of resources may provide a high ecological footprint. Examples of environmental effects with distribution and manufacturing of pet food are increased greenhouse gas emissions, waste, use of water and energy.

Today, the tourism sector is the fastest growing industry in the world and also includes one of the foremost for instance in the number of work and added tax. The sector entails a lot of positive factors but also negative consequences, such as overexploitation and wear on natural areas. However, even the visitor industry contributes to smaller localities boost by creating new jobs where depopulation occurs. This study focuses on the town Kisa in Kinda Municipality. The purpose of the study is to highlight the importance of tourism for migration to a town and to show the importance of developing sustainable destinations.In the results of this study it emerges that more job opportunities are requested by respondents for increasing Kisas attractiveness.

In the middle of Australia there is a city called Alice Springs. The city has one of the highest amounts of daily sunshine hours and sun irradiation in the world. The Australian Government runs a project called Solar Cities, and Alice Springs is one of the participators. The main part of the goal with the Solar Cities project is to increase the amount of electricity generated by solar power and by doing that lower the impact on the environment. This thesis examines the possibilities for construction of a large scale solar power plant in Alice Springs. This is done to determine the potential of creating a more sustainable energy system in the city.

Rapid urbanisation is putting strains on both the landscape and the city dwellers and the pressure on planning for sustainable and equitable cities is crucial. As many cities in Sub-Saharan Africa are expanding, city planning has trouble keeping up to meet the needs of the growing amount of urban dwellers. Many cities have also been planned with the cars in focus and the needs and comfort of the pedestrians have been overlooked. The capacity of institutions is limited due to centralized government and bureaucracy, as well as corruption. Planning is erratically implemented and it is difficult to know what will happen.

Due to soft grounds in combination with seasonal variation in soil humidity, there is a lack of stands that are possible to cut during spring and autumn in some geographical regions. For Holmen Skog this sometimes means that a large proportion of the contracted private forest is cut during the winter when the ground is frozen. One consequence of this is that the proportion of winter stands in the stand bank of own forest increases while spring and autumn stands becomes a scarcity. This in combination with milder winters, especially when there is a long period of reduced bearing capacity in spring or autumn, means that the situation rapidly can become critical. The overall goal with this study was to generate basic data for decision support in the work to achieve a sustainable distribution between own forest and contracted private forest in the stand bank. The study took place at Holmen Skog, district of Umeå, during autumn 2007 and was based on interviews and an analysis of harvest planning and delivery data. The study showed that there is a problem with how the cutting is distributed between own and contracted private forest during the year and that it foremost is the proportion of winter thinning of own forest that has increased in the stand bank.

In the middle of Australia there is a city called Alice Springs. The city has one of the highest amounts of daily sunshine hours and sun irradiation in the world. The Australian Government runs a project called Solar Cities, and Alice Springs is one of the participators. The main part of the goal with the Solar Cities project is to increase the amount of electricity generated by solar power and by doing that lower the impact on the environment. This thesis examines the possibilities for construction of a large scale solar power plant in Alice Springs. This is done to determine the potential of creating a more sustainable energy system in the city.

This essay presents a picture of swedish reggae listeners and how their love of music give meaning to their lives and unite them in a sub-culture. Based on interviews with six young men about their involvement in reggae, it also investigates the relationship between music and identity, or more clearly; how identity is expressed through music. Furthermore, I discuss the notion of taste according to Bourdieu, and argue against his statement that taste in music affirms the class and social background of an individual. Results from my empirical data have indicated that reggae music is difficult to associate to a distinct lifestyle, which inclines me to argue that it has managed to transcend phenomena such as ethnicity, class and cultural affiliation..

Corporate Social Responsiblity is today a well known concept in the business world. The concept contains responsibility and sustainability for those who chose to work with Corporate Social Responsibility and the three responsibility areas within the concept. Responsibility and sustainability is of importance, no matter what core business a corporation has. The responsibility goes both out from the corporation, to take care of the surrounding society and the environment. The responsibility also concerns the corporation interal, aiming for a sustainable work enivornment and good working conditions.